It's the end of the road for the celebrity buggy that conquered Britain

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Gwyneth Paltrow's 'Apple cart' was a Bugaboo

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So this year: the Gecko

By Christina Hopkinson

11:59AM BST 25 Aug 2005

Christina Hopkinson investigates the designer pram phenomenon

'When I went to the park and saw four Bugaboo Frogs, I knew this was the right sort of area for us," said an acquaintance recently in a particularly child-friendly part of north London, pushing back his designer glasses and sipping on his latte. His companions nodded, understanding that owning this brand of pushchair was shorthand for a certain sort of style-conscious parent.

He's not the only fan of the Dutch-built buggy with its distinctive swirl logo. What was once the must-have baby accessory for extravagant celebrities has become an essential piece of kit for parents everywhere. The Frog is the buggy that conquered Britain. Sales in John Lewis are up by 130 per cent in the past 12 months; since its introduction to Britain in 2003, sales have doubled each year.

This popularity comes despite - or because of - its hefty price tag. The Bugaboo retails at £500, and should you choose to invest in the matching foot muff, parasol, car seat adaptor and transport and diaper bags, you'll be shelling out more than £700. A basic from-birth buggy by a lesser brand can be bought for less than £100.

The Bugaboo's tipping point came last May when Gwyneth Paltrow was photographed pushing the "Apple cart" down a street in New York. The Dutch firm must have been delighted, though were perhaps less thrilled with photos that appeared soon after, showing one of the star's bodyguards struggling to fold up the Bugaboo. That man was probably CIA-trained and could assemble a Kalashnikov in 10 seconds, but was defeated by a buggy.

Heat magazine's style editor, Ellie Crompton, has noticed their ubiquity. "We were going to do a whole page of celebrities pushing them. Fran Cutler (ex-business partner of Meg Matthews) credits herself with starting the craze, as she says she introduced everyone to them. Now they've all got one."

She believes that photographs such as those of Gwyneth, Stella McCartney, Sara Cox and countless others wheeling their matching buggies through London's parks have really influenced the rest of us. "Everyone else thinks it must be the most safe, most advanced and most covetable pushchair on the market."

For Prof Frank Furedi, sociologist and parent-watcher, the Frog's popularity is part of a wider trend. "Parenting has become so intertwined with your identity that the way your child looks is seen as a direct extension of yourself. Having a particular buggy is a way of projecting your own desires and fantasies to the rest of the world."

He believes that cost is no impediment. "With lower-income groups, spending a lot of money is about saying 'we're respectable, caring parents'. With upper-income types, it's about saying: 'This is how I am, this is a projection of me'. They don't even look at the price tag."

Damaris Beems from Bugaboo HQ dismisses the concept of buggy as style icon. "It's only in Anglo-Saxon countries that it's been perceived that way." She maintains that the rest of Europe cherishes the Frog's solid Dutch engineering.

But the backlash has begun. Last year, Mariella Frostrup claimed to be able to "spot a Bugaboo Frog at a 1,000 paces and drool", but now she is reported to loathe it, complaining "have you ever tried to fold one?" and has vowed to push baby number two in the cheapest, lightest buggy she can find.

And for all those fashion-conscious parents who've blown a monkey on a Frog, there's more bad news: it is to be discontinued in Britain in October. Every Frog, it seems, has its day. The obsolete model is being replaced by the new, lean, mean Bugaboo Gecko and the Chameleon, both considered great improvements on the original.

Maybe one of these will be the next buggy of the fashion-conscious parent, but my money's on "vintage". Anybody got an original 1985 Maclaren Dreamer Deluxe in mint condition they'd like to flog?